19th Sunday of Ordinary Time

(1 Kings 19:4-8) Elijah went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree; and he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers.” And he lay down and slept under a broom tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank, and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, else the journey will be too great for you.” And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

Ps 33:2-9

R./ Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Second Reading: (Eph 4:30 - 5:2)

do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bit­terness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Gospel: (Jn 6:41-51)

The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, `I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, `And they shall all be taught by God.’ Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Reflection:

This passage tells us about the importance of our disposition for un­derstanding divine secrets. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” However, it does not suggest that God the Father draws some and rejects some others, as Jesus has further clarified, “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (Jn 12:32). Even though a magnet emits its magnetic waves all around it trying to draw unto itself every object, only metallic objects are actually drawn to it; wooden or earthen stuff are unable to respond to the drawing energy of the magnet. Only when one is attuned to the inspiration of God in humility and total surrender he/she can be drawn to God.